CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- For the first five minutes against Illinois, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo was pleading with his point guard Keith Appling to push the ball. Midway through the second half, he was pleading with redshirt freshman Kenny Kaminski to guard somebody.

But no matter how out of sync the No. 4 Spartans (17-1, 6-0) felt during their 78-62 win over Illinois (13-6, 2-4) Saturday night, they couldn't help but appreciate the fact that this team had just cemented a place in the Spartan history books.

At 17-1, Michigan State is off to its best 18-game start in school history. The win Saturday pushed the Spartans past the 16-1 record start set by the 1931 and 2001 teams. The 2001 team lost its 18th game to Ohio State, 64-55. The 1931 team never won its 18th game because it never played an 18th game. Sorry, Benjamin Van Alstyne.

"I think every team you kind of hope when they leave, they leave something that will make people think 20 years from now about this team," Izzo said. "That's incredible considering the teams we've played and the start we've had."

It's also impressive considering the fact that only three players on Michigan State's roster have even played in all 18 games. Outside of Keith Appling, Denzel Valentine and Gavin Schilling, every other player on Michigan State's roster has missed time due to injury, illness or suspension.

They've won the last three Big Ten games without starting senior forward Adreian Payne, who's been sidelined with a sprained foot since playing despite the injury against Ohio State on Jan. 7.

"It's something I can enjoy with my team tonight," Izzo said. "We're winning because we're checking. We're rebounding really well. And other than the first five minutes, where we maybe had six turnovers, the rest of the game we had seven. I thought we did a pretty decent job, especially the second half, taking care of the ball. We shot a high percentage because we got some layups on our break."

But while Izzo tried to downplay emotions and play up the analytical reasoning to media, his players were telling a different tale following the game.

"We talked about it in the huddle," Branden Dawson said. "Denzel Valentine, he said, 'On three: One, two, three, make history.' And when I looked at coach, he had the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face. Like, I'm not kidding. His smile, it's hard to explain.

"It was towards the end of the game. And you know coach, usually he gives us the long talks after the game, but I think tonight he kept it short because we played good as a team. I think last year we kind of broke down as a team. But this game we stayed together and our key guys stepped up and scored."